Community | Hospitality | Nonviolence | Resistance

When: Friday, March 2, 2012 from Noon-1:00 p.m. @ the White House (north side on Pennsylvania Ave.)

Pax Christi USA will lead a prayer service at the White House as part of the Lenten Witness for Peace and Justice that is being organized by the Dorothy Day Catholic Worker and co-sponsored by other faith-based peace and justice groups.

Lent is a time for personal and societal repentance, a time for radical conversion, renewal and transformation. Living under the brutal occupation of the Roman empire, Jesus declared: “The kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and believe in the Gospel.” (Mk.1:15) Living in the U.S. empire, which Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. described as “the greatest purveyor of violence in the world,” we need to heed Jesus’ proclamation now more than ever.

Please join this March 2 witness and publicize it through your networks.

Please vigil with the Dorothy Day Catholic Worker and with other peacemakers and peace groups at the White House during the Friday’s of Lent.

Join us this Friday March 2nd @ 7:30pm, for our monthly Clarification of Thought event. The theme will be “No child left alone: Countering militarization of DC schools” with Guest Speaker John Judge. Click here to learn more!

“The kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and believe in the Gospel.” (Mk.1:15)

Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of Lent. Lent is a time for personal and societal repentance, a time for radical conversion, renewal and transformation. Living under the brutal occupation of the Roman empire, Jesus declared: “The kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and believe in the Gospel.” (Mk.1:15) Living in the U.S. empire, which Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. described as “the greatest purveyor of violence in the world,” we need to heed Jesus’ proclamation now more than ever.

On Ash Wednesday there will be a prayer service in front of the White House to call for repentance and conversion of ourselves, our society and our churches to the Gospel way of justice, nonviolence and a reverence for all life and creation. We call for an immediate end to U.S. warmaking in Afghanistan; that the U.S. halt all Drone strikes in Pakistan, Yemen, Somalia and elsewhere; and that Israel and the U.S. cease it military threats against Iran. We call for reparations to Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan; for total disarmament and the abolition of all nuclear and conventional weapons; an end to the U.S.-supported Israeli occupation of the West Bank; an end to torture and the closing of Guantanamo and Bagram U.S. military prisons and other military torture training centers like the SOA/WHINSEC; and an end to AFRICOM and the militarization of Africa. We call, too, for the repeal of the National Defense Authorization Act 2012 which allocates $662 billion for the Pentagon and codified into law indefinite detention for suspected terrorists and their supporters, both foreign and domestic. And we call for an end to corporate domination, justice for the poor and all immigrants, and for the conversion of our war-based economy to one centered on serving the common good, alleviating poverty, and protecting the environment.

Come for a weekend to rejuvenate and invigorate your commitment to the Consistent Life Ethic. The Conference will be held at the National 4-H Youth Conference Center in Washington DC. Visit consistent-life.org for more details and for registration.

Come to DC from April 14-17 for four days of lobbying, conferences, strategy sessions, concerts and street theater, as we continue to make our demands heard for a just world! Prior to the Days of Action, we will hold a Direct Action Training camp from April 11-13 to train movement activists in the skills needed to carry out effective actions to put the SOA and militarization on the national agenda.